Sports Update » Ralph Sampsonhttp://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate
Blogging special sports events and storiesMon, 03 Aug 2015 00:20:21 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.2If the Rockets don’t make the playoffs, blame McHalehttp://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/06/if-the-rockets-dont-make-the-playoffs-blame-mchale/
http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/06/if-the-rockets-dont-make-the-playoffs-blame-mchale/#commentsFri, 03 Jun 2011 16:42:02 +0000http://blog.chron.com/jeromesolomon/?p=1121Kevin McHale made his first mistake as Rockets head coach Friday, just 30 minutes or so after signing a three-year contract.

He said if the Rockets don’t make the playoffs next season it is on him.

That loud “Whoop!” you heard in the background was general manager Daryl Morey agreeing wholeheartedly.

The problem with such statements is jerks like yours truly won’t let it die. We won’t give it the “excited utterance” exclusion that we should.

Why?

Because it’s more fun the other way.

Remember when Tracy McGrady said it was on him? Of course you do. Heck, some of you will still say, as @jeffbalke joked to me on Twitter just now, that if the Rockets don’t make the playoffs nexct year it’s STILL on T-Mac.

It’s like those silly team themes that are all the rage these days. The Rockets’ “It’s Time” was column fodder for an entire season.

Now, if the Rockets fall short of the postseason, all fingers will be pointing at the new head coach.

That’s the way McHale likes it, though.

McHale, then the president of basketball operations for the Timberwolves, offered this self-assessment after the 2004-05 season:

“I must have done a poor job. We didn’t make the playoffs.”

Nothing wrong with a person who takes responsibility for a team not getting it done.

• • •

Another thing McHale said was quite interesting.

When asked about being one of the hated Celtics, longtime Houston NBA fans grew to dislike those boys in green, McHale that those days were 20-25 years ago.

“That’s over,” he said.

Really?

What say you, Rockets’ fans?

Is it over?

Do you remember McHale hanging out late one night and (jokingly, he said then) autographing a T-shirt during the NBA Finals with a statement that the Rockets were pretty much simulated the action of a vacuum cleaner? If you know what I mean.

McHale said there is nothing like being in the fight.

If you’re wondering, where he was during the Ralph Sampson-Jerry Sichting squabble in 1986, which occurred 25 years ago Sunday (McHale led all scorers with 33 points in the game), he was on the bench and a late-comer to the fray and didn’t throw any blows. (See below.)

And, my man Jonathan Feigen says Sichting could be a candidate for an assistant position under McHale. Sichting, who was with the Warriors last year, was McHale’s top assistant in Minnesota.

]]>http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/06/if-the-rockets-dont-make-the-playoffs-blame-mchale/feed/61Will Lowry bring Rockets luck in lottery?http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/05/will-lowry-bring-rockets-luck-in-lottery/
http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2011/05/will-lowry-bring-rockets-luck-in-lottery/#commentsFri, 13 May 2011 14:42:43 +0000http://blog.chron.com/jeromesolomon/?p=1042I’m not superstitious. But I know some of you Rockets fans are.

You must be, because so often I get e-mail from some of you, that blame me for the team’s woes.

Clearly my “lack of support” is what has kept the team from being a contender the last couple of years. I’m Schlep Rocking the Rockets. (Choosing to start the shortest center in the history of the NBA has nothing to do with it.)

Anyway, since some of you observe such knuckleheadedness, I figured I’d warn you of an upcoming potentially negative development.

Daryl Morey announced on Twitter early this morning that Kyle Lowry would represent the Rockets at the NBA draft lottery next week.

Maybe Daryl shouldn’t send his starting point guard to New Jersey for the festivities.

In Rockets’ history, they have sent two players to the NBA lottery – Steve Francis and Aaron Brooks.

Brooks represented Houston at last year’s lottery. And, well, you know how horrible this last season was for him – poor play, a nagging and serious injury, and a suspension – before he was finally put out of the Rockets’ misery in a February trade.

Francis represented the Rockets at the lottery in 2002, and Houston walked away with Yao Ming. But when the Rockets didn’t make the playoffs that season, they didn’t even have a lottery pick, because they had given it up to the Grizzlies in a trade for … yep, Steve Francis. That was the LeBron James Lottery.

Of course, Francis then went out and had his worst season as a Rocket in 2003-04 (fewest points, worst shooting percentages from the field and the free throw line, and the “did he or didn’t he” go to the Super Bowl suspension) and was traded.

Not the best of luck for Rockets’ point guards at the lottery.

Luck had a lot to do with the Rockets’ being so successful in coin tosses that led to the drafting of Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon. Heads was the winner for owner Charlie Thomas both times, though Houston only called the first one. (Then-GM Ray Patterson was also with the Bucks when they won the flip that got them Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.)

It is because of the Rockets’ great fortune with coin flips (and professional folding during the season when necessary) that the lottery even exists.

As much a numbers guy as he is, Morey does believe in good luck.

He even threw in the quote: “Good luck is with the man who doesn’t include it in his plans” for good measure. I believe he left out the word “often.”